No deal tonight: SAG-AFTRA and Studios end long day of negotiations, expected again on Wednesday – Update

UPDATED, 21:13: SAG-AFTRA and the studios plan to continue discussions, but there will be no deal tonight.

After a long day of negotiations on Tuesday, the parties are still grappling with a number of stubborn issues, including, we hear, protections against artificial intelligence. After repeatedly discussing the issue and consulting with lawyers and others throughout the evening, the guild’s negotiating committee and the AMPTP have now scheduled another meeting for Wednesday, they said.

Led by SAG-AFTRA Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and AMPTP Chair Carol Lombardini, the parties spent approximately seven hours today discussing the content of an agreement and the process of establishing the basis of a preliminary agreement. to place paper. Studio executives did not zoom in as they had on previous occasions.

The lack of a tentative agreement tonight means the soon-to-be 118-day strike will not end until both Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney do not report their quarterly results on Wednesday – an event horizon that many mistakenly assumed the industrial action would have reached. Gore.

That’s why we’re hearing from sources on both sides of the negotiating table: Blame AI.

With technology apparently advancing by leaps and bounds, the guild wants to see “strong guardrails,” as a SAG-AFTRA source put it, protecting its 160,000 members, both in terms of compensation and the rights to their likeness. While the gap between what the AMPTP is now offering and what the guild is looking for has narrowed significantly in the past 36 hours, they are “close, but not there yet,” the SAG-AFTRA source said.

Deadline has learned from multiple sources that Guild president Fran Drescher has been pinged by A-list stars to ask if a deal has been finalized. We’re told guild leaders also hoped Tuesday would be all about Lombardini and Crabtree-Ireland, with the details and fine print being worked out.

“A lot of bureaucracy,” is how one studio insider summed up the deal pushed through by the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee and the guild and the studio’s lawyers. Another creative close to the talks sums it up: “Lots of back channels today.” Studio sources call the deal “hugely historic” for the actors, while also claiming that many actors in the ranks are upset about the ongoing strike, in addition to many communities below the line. On the other hand, guild unity remains strong, as well-attended strikes on both coasts today attest.

For some, tonight could be about finding the right personalities, according to sources.

Given Lombardini’s tough stance during the talks, some wondered if she would be the person to seal the deal with the former Crabtree-Ireland prosecutor. On Tuesday, there was an argument in some studio and guild circles that Smooth operator Bob Iger should step in to seal the deal. However, another insider assured: “No, she is the one.”

As the city waits for Lombardini and Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA has plans for Wednesday in Los Angeles and New York City. In the City of Angels, there’s a self-proclaimed post-apocalyptic themed convention outside Netflix and a Fightin’ Irish protest outside Warner Bros.

BEFORE, 1:17 p.m.: Chief negotiators from SAG-AFTRA and the studios will meet later today to potentially discuss the final phase of finalizing a new contract and ending the 117-day strike by the actors’ guilds.

After AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA broke ground on the controversial topic of AI last night, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and AMPTP President Carol Lombardini will speak this afternoon. “We are very close,” a guild source told Deadline. “Not done yet, but very close with strong protection language,” added the source of AI rails the guild had long sought, even before it went on strike in mid-July.

A studio source today described the deal as “hopeful,” while another excited insider beamed: “It’s happening.”

After SAG-AFTRA issued its response to the AMPTP’s so-called “last, best and final offer” of late last week on November 6, the parties gathered for a Zoom meeting yesterday. Bob Iger, CEO of Disney’s Gang of Four, David Zaslav of Warner Bros. Discovery, Ted Sarandos from Netflix and Donna Langley from NBCUniversal were there again late at night. We’re hearing that, unlike previous meetings of this kind, studio bosses were finally willing to amend their latest AI proposal to offer more project-specific protections and compensation to artists.

Whether that reprieve will be enough to end the bitter and costly six-month strike that crippled Hollywood, cost the California economy $67.5 billion and eliminated 45,000 entertainment jobs is likely to be decided today. This will be decided at the Crabtree-Ireland-Lombardini meeting. .

“It all boils down to Duncan and Carol ironing out the AI ​​language,” an insider explained. An agreement on minimum rates is also on the table. SAG-AFTRA wanted an 11% raise, but in the end the studios offered 7% — which is better than what the WGA got in its September strike agreement. Since then, the guild has increased its demand to around 9% and the two parties are expected to settle on around 8%, we hear.

The Nov. 3 offer, described by studio sources as “historic,” includes, in addition to, but not limited to, a decade-long pay raise and a 100 percent increase in performance pay bonuses for big budgets. Stream shows and movies that meet certain thresholds. The guild is said to have “problems” with these metrics, considering them too high to be meaningful to many of their members.

Neither AMPTP nor SAG-AFTRA responded to Deadline’s request for comment today. If so, we will update it. It’s worth noting that both WBD and Disney will report fourth quarter results later this week and an end to the Wall Street strike wouldn’t be unwelcome, you know what we mean?

As the industry waits with bated breath, Hollywood is gearing up to resume production of films and television series around the world with the aim of getting its 2024 film and television schedule back on track.

Although there were complaints from studio executives last night following the guild’s response to the studio’s “last, best and final offer”, it appeared that both sides were closer than expected as they renegotiated the terms of the deal late into the night has. One director was outraged by the guild’s demand for actors’ consent to their digital selves, and the union is fine with any use of AI with a digital artist. “Not how movies are made!” However, we’ll see both sides come to an agreement when the dust finally settles on the AI ​​rights and residual streaming revenue.

Yet today there were strikes and members of SAG-AFTRA and its allies took to the streets in New York and LA.